American Exhibitionism
Tunku Varadarajan on an American pastime:
Americans . . . tend to make very good exhibitionists. By contrast, and famously, the British make much the better eccentrics. Americans, in fact, are not very good at eccentricity, just as Brits are clumsy at exhibitionism. . .
What is the wellspring of American exhibitionism? Life in this country--large and competitive--is largely about calling attention to oneself, it matters not in how vulgar (and noisy) a way. Ours is a loud culture: This is perhaps because, at the subsistence or immigrant level (or at the level of folk memory), most start in crowded rooms and one has to shout to be heard, or to get fed. In a society of immigrants, "outsiders" find that they can become "insiders" by extra oomph. The struggle for integration is an especially American drama and the immigrant knows that he may need braggadocio. . .
America also has exhibitionists because the culture of showbiz and TV is learned so early, so that even the very young are adept at theatrical gestures--they roll their eyes, for instance, at 4. (I can attest, from parental experience, to this precocious dismissiveness.) But the truest reason that Americans are exhibitionist is that the U.S. has always been a democracy or has, at any rate, purported to be classless. That was how it was founded. Jack is just as good as his employer and so has no need for inhibition. . .
Link.
